Earth Spacedock (RP)

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Suvel led his team of engineers and his first officer to the engineering level. A young ensign wearing gold came up to him, "Sir, what is going on? Two of the power generators just went offline, with no prior warnings. My supervisor, Lieutenant Commander Zera just disappeared in to thin air."
Suvel directed his team to begin working on Generator 3, "That is what we are attempting to deduce."

"Like most of the rest of ESD personnel," Chekov said from behind the desk in her new office, "he has inexplicably disappeared. I am restricting all travel to Sol System. Nobody is allowed in or out of this system, however, I am allowing people to leave the starbase since it seems that the disappearances are limited to here only. Just don't leave the system. With The Infamous out there somewhere, I don't want to risk losing anyone else to him."

Just then, an Oberth class science vessel that had gone missing two years ago warped into the system with Lydia M'Konel and the rest of the crew of the Talitha.

Chekov almost smiled, both confused and amused. "Captain, the Philadelphia has been decommissioned; she was taken from ESD to Utopia Planitia Shipyards a few days ago. I do believe Mars is still in Sol System." She winked. "However, I can tell you that what you are looking for is no longer there. Talitha was transferred to the Talitha. It seemed appropriate." Chekov looked at the monitor on her desk. "It appears Lydia M'Konel and her crew have arrived. The Infamous must have let them go, because I know they didn't escape. That leaves Tali as the only one unaccounted for. And might I add..." She gave Jade a pointed look, "...that she remain unaccounted for, at least for now."

"Batou to Seifer. We only got one person on the mission queue; Suvel. He's down at Power Generator 4."

The Captain tapped his commbadge. "What a life saver. But why are the queues always empty? Anyway, I'll have to take care of Power Generator 3 myself."

"Acknowledged. Watch for Regalian fleaspiders. We got infested after the Ferengi ship Fortune's Gold docked with us. Next time, we need to wear protection."

Agreeing, Seifer turned to the opposite direction and was suddenly confronted by a disturbed and unnerving Captain Terry. "You're not disappeared?"

"No thanks to you," Terry spoke, with his voice slightly altered. He peered into Seifer with smokey, glowing, green eyes. "When I was in trouble, you let me get captured and transformed into this."

Seifer shook his head. "I tried to save you from extraction but was unsuccessful. That's not the same thing."

"Oh, but it is," Terry launched a punch for Seifer's head. "You've always been against Starfleet, sympathizing with our enemies. It's the base sentiment of the Seifer symbiont. You're a traitor at heart!"

The Captain caught his incoming wrist and countered with a back-hand. "And you've always had it out for me! Face it, Terry, you're not the perfect Starfleet officer anymore. You're sick now."

"Gggh!!" Terry was hit in the face, causing him to power up his arms in anger and double-force-palm Seifer in the chest. Captain Seifer went flying back into a railing.

When he looked up, Terry had inhumanly leapt up onto an upper level and out of there. "What the Grethor? So, he's off sensors then?" Seifer got up and shook his head. "Never mind. It's late and people are trying to sleep and prepare for their own plot lines."

Captain Seifer tapped his commbadge.

"Seifer to Suvel. Were you able to bring Power Generator 4 online and set it to a resonance-EM mode?"

D'ren (clearly not the same one who disappeared during the Zipporah/Behemoth mash-up) - T.I.S. Ra'Quella, the bridge

The Ra'Quella was yet another vessel named after one of D'ren's spurned lovers or favorite historical heroines or anti-villains, except this one was not a dreadnought. In fact, it wasn't very large at all. The Ra'Quella was only about the size of a Sovereign class starship, though her design - again, unlike the Zipporah and his other dreadnoughts - was completely original, not an amalgamation of various species' technologies and designs. The Infamous Ra'Quella's hull was a glistening silver with a jet black central roof. She had a dorsal torpedo rollbar that spanned the length of the ship, as well as a ventral bar half that size. The bow of the Ra'Quella was pointed like the beak on the head of an eagle, and her flanks sported raked forward wings that clutched type III disruptor cannons. Four impulse drives were situated above and beneath the stern, while two warp enclosures poised below almost like talons.

D'ren (the one from the ESD brig) was sitting comfortably in his command chair. Unlike the Zipporah's captain's seat, this one was not a leather recliner; just a chair, an ordinary chair. There was nobody at helm, nobody at tactical, nobody at ops, nobody at engineering. It was only him and his Advanced Intuition, Ra'Quella.

The AI's face appeared on screen; unlike Tali's visage, Ra'Quella's was perfectly human. "D'ren. What are we going to do now?"

"Be patient," answered D'ren. "She'll come to us..."

The Ra'Quella was not cloaked, but just sitting in orbit over Caldos III.

D'ren placed his hand thoughtfully on his clean-shaven chin. "They will all come to us..."

6 Hours Later...

Elihu M'Konel and Lydia M'Konel - ESD, main concourse

Suvel had been discovered and taken to the infirmary; apparently an accident had occurred, severely injuring the Vulcan captain. Since then the few engineers remaining had managed to get the emergency generators running, but people were still disappearing. There were only a few dozen left on ESD, so most people remained on their ships.

Elihu M'Konel had been reunited with Lydia M'Konel, his full Romulan aunt. But he did not speak to her, despite her desperate pleas. Lydia went to the quarters Chekov had given her and took a much needed nap. Elihu did the same in his cell.

Cynthia James did not recover from her injuries sustained aboard the Arcturian transport; her sister Tina accepted Chekov's offer to have her buried with the lost Philadelphia crew.

When it was time to go, Chekov (who had lifted the transportation restriction only for this circumstance) had one of her orderlies broadcast the announcement over the intercom.

The parade of individuals that marched through the main concourse toward the turbo lifts was a little uplifting, despite all the recent catastrophes. All Starfleet personnel were in their dress uniforms. Leading them was Elihu M'Konel, Admiral Chekov, and Commander Bradden. Behind them trailed Lydia, Tuvok, Shran-Vix, Vaughn Vincent, Kidna, Thalora, Daniel Benson, his mother and father, Lareth, Kannor (who had been granted reprieve for this occasion only), Garn Pekh (who returned from the Gamma Quadrant just this once), Tina James, her 10-year-old son, and grandmother, Hektor Lang, John Monroe, and Jonah McDaniels, not to mention other friends and families of the deceased crew members, and a cadre of other Starfleet officers and personnel who felt like showing their appreciation for such a major loss.

The good Vice Admiral had already investigated a number of lesser known members of the U.S.S. Molly's crew. So far, he determined that none of them were traitors, although a few proved more... interesting.

Lieutenant Commander 1 of 6 and Lieutenant 4 of 7 had both clung to their story about former Admiral Nat fooling them to believe he had been working to ally the legitimate Iconians with the Federation, rather than what was eventually discovered to be The Alliance. After a telepathic probe, he decided they were telling the truth.

Lieutenant Jr. Grade Katat, Lieutenant Jr. Gyta Karujn, Crewmen Lunus and Karegon, Lieutenant Salora, Lieutenant Jenn, and Lieutenant 3 of 5 all went with the same story. Almost suspicious, but Nakari found through his telepathy that they too were telling the truth.

All that were left were Commander Scott, Commander 8 of 14, Commander 11 of 14, Captain Sarah Walker, and the alternate universe Captain Nat. He decided to investigate Commander 8 of 14 first.

..."Commander 8 of 14, former Chief Medical Officer from the U.S.S. Firestorm and later the U.S.S. Molly."...

..."the admiral had told us he was working in classified operations for the Iconians to ally with the Federation"...

..."he had the crew put in the brig"...

..."they were all over the ship, and with the chaos they were causing, I had to put that Undine out of commission so they wouldn't"...

..."the admiral decided to abandon ship, so I had to determine where my loyalties lied"...

..."when I learned that he was a traitor, I decided to I had to leave him behind"...

..."and now I'm here. Will that be all?"

It had been at least an hour since the conversation began. Nakari raised his head up to look at 8 of 14 again, glancing at the transcript that the computer had been keeping, then looking back at 8 of 14 again.

"For now. I'll have to read this over, and then me and Starfleet Command will have to decide what to do from here."

"Alright then. If that will be all, I'll get back to sickbay."

Nakari nodded, and then 8 of 14 got up and walked out, headed for Starbase 144's sickbay. 8 of 14 figured there would be somebody in need of help there by now.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

Nakari's investigation of 11 of 14 didn't last long. Basically just the same old story every other officer had told him. He was sure none of them had been lying to him. Unfortunately, Starfleet Command couldn't let them get away with their involvement with the former admiral so easily, even if he had fooled them into thinking he was on our side. In the end, they let them away with no more than a demotion to Lieutenant Commander, although 11 of 14 definitely wasn't too happy about that.

Scott was next. Nakari waited in his office on Starbase 144, as Scott walked in and sat down as instructed. Nakari already had a bad feeling this was not going to go well.

"Yes, admiral. Temporal science officer. Heck knows I probably knew this investigation was going to happen before you were even assigned to lead the investigations carried out regarding all of our crew, and the search for Admiral Nat."

Nakari was practically horrified. Scott already knew everything. Chances were, he would know what was going to happen next, whatever it may be. "So word has it you were the officer in charge on the Firestorm when Sarah tried to take over the ship. Am I correct?"

Scott nodded. "Yes, I was the acting captain at the time, and--"

He stopped. Looking out the window, he noticed a Yamato-class dreadnought fly by. At that moment, he realized he had said too much.

Nakari looked at him, a stern look in his eye, moving a little closer.

"Did you order the destruction of the U.S.S. Sally?"

Scott lowered his head, while standing up. "Technically, yes, although it had already been established that--"

"That what!?" Nakari practically shouted at him while standing up as well. "That they were already going to be destroyed? How much about the future do you already know?"

Scott turned to Nakari. "More than I really want to."

He took off his combadge and set it on Nakari's desk.

"I also know that you'll find me guilty of directly ordering the Sally's destruction, and that you will end up sending me to Facility 4028 on a prison ship that will end up being intercepted by the original U.S.S. Firestorm. Don't bother trying to stop us, admiral. I know that we'll end up getting away."

Nakari replied. "Of course you do, but you also know I have to give you one hell of a fight before you do."

He motioned to the guards. "Put him in the brig for now. We'll deal with him later."

The guards took Scott and escorted him to the brig, under maximum security. Scott made no effort to resist.

Nakari didn't want to mess around, however. He contacted the first officer of his command ship, the U.S.S. Brock.

"I want you to prepare our ship's brig for a special prisoner. Maximum security. Forcefields. MACOs. Turrets. The whole bit."

The Brock's first officer was clearly a little surprised, but responded "yes sir" anyway, and carried out the orders in question.

We'll be ready for them Nakari thought to himself. Now to investigate Captain Walker.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

Aeris and Winry approached an airlock which was connected to one of the large space-tentacles coming off the biobase. A green gel began to slowly spread from vieny sacks, off the tentacle along the surface of the hull.

"No help from the Infamous' extraordinary, trans-dimensional-reaching group, then?" Winry asked as the two adjusted to the suits they were now wearing.

Aeris shook her head. "Doesn't look like it. Anyway, what have we got here?"

"I've given us exo-armor," Winry explained, while adjusting a setting on Aeris' suit. "It's light-weight and resistant to psionic, toxic and energy damage. Just don't get tackled by an Undine."

The Captain pulled up a weapon. "And these?"

"Bio-molecular phaser rifles," Winry said, bringing hers up. "There's a beam setting and an unstable beam setting. The latter acts as a constant stream and creates an explosion at target; be careful with that."

The other woman then opened up the hatch, revealing the insides of the long and slimy tentacle. "Since the base is highly charged, this is our only way in sans transporters. The Zephyra, on the other hand, may not fair too well after another secretion."

"Another?" Winry then shook it off. "Never mind. Will Javan be assisting us?"

Aeris shrugged as she took position at the threshold. "There's an extra suit and rifle, if so. In the meantime, let's do this thing!"

She leapt right into the mucus-filled tube, disgusting Winry to the brink of throwing up in her own suit. Holding it in, Winry dove, feet first, right after. The two went sliding down the inside of the tentacle, until internal muscles took over passed gravity to push them toward the Undine biobase.

Unknown Undine biobase

In the biobase, the two were deposited into a gory, drip-filled organic corridor, lit by strips of green cells lining tubes. Two Undine officers and a unit commander, wearing tactical armor, turned a corner and began blasting anti-proton beams from their arm cannons.

Winy aimed her rifle and began firing at one of the officers on Aeris' queue. "Is this the welcome you were expecting??"

"That, and a basket of slimy cookies," the Captain replied, as the Undine officer was taken down, prompting the two to focus fire on the last two Undine.

SKKZT! Aeris activated the unstable beam, feeding it into the unit commander and an energy explosion took both enemies down. Aeris and Winry jogged passed the fallen soldiers, turned a corner and found a small hole in the wall.

"It's an exhaust pathway," the Captain said. "We can fit through it."

Winry dropped her defensive stance. "Uh, what? Are we going to live through this?"

"We'll see," Aeris suggested. "This way."

She stretched the opening with her hands, where a preliminary mucus was forced out and onto the floor. Aeris went through, followed by Winry and they both struggled to crawl their way through the non-friction tube.

Exiting, they found themselves completely slimed, but in stealth on the upper bone-structured rafters of a large experimental operation room. Below, were giant energy-fused organic, alien structures being operated on by a lone, mutant psi-master Undine. The second half of the room was a giant holding cell with hundreds of Starfleet officers standing around, contained within.

"They're from Spacedock??" Winry recognized. "How'd they get here?"

Aeris pondered. "He brought them here," she pointed to the Undine below who, while moving slow, exited the lab. "But he can also put them back. Hopefully, we still have enough personnel on Spacedock and they don't go anywhere."

Earth Spacedock

Meanwhile, back in normal space, at Earth Spacedock, a procession of men and women, who were some of a few last from the station, boarded the Starfleet Civilian Transport vessel Elysium in Docking Bay 2. The ship prepared to depart for Caldos III.

Lydia made the smart decision to remain at the rear of the transport, away from Elihu, who was at the front with the brass. She assumed he'd found out about Talitha, but she was unsure how. Nel Kestral wasn't there, so she knew she didn't tell him. And no one else seemed to be aware of the extent of the situation. In fact, she reasoned that the Trill captain was the only other one who was present when everyone decided not to inform Elihu of the transference. Regardless, the former Tal'Shiar officer kept her eye on the Trill, trying to recall her name.

"I don't believe this!" Sarah practically shouted as she returned to ops from the investigation. "They demoted me to commander!"

Captain Nat gave her a deadpan look. "Really? What in the world for?"

"Oh, you know, disobeying Admiral Quinn's orders, unintentionally causing the U.S.S. Sally's destruction, running off to the Natara Expanse in the U.S.S. Molly as ordered before having the crew investigated, crashing the same ship into a planet, and then allowing the escape of friggin' Nel Kestral to fricken' Infamous D'ren's people!"

Nat was a little surprised so much had happened so quickly. "Really? That's all?"

""Really?" Is that all you say these days? At this rate, they'll make me your first officer on that Defiant down in the hanger!"

Nat shrugged and went to Nakari's office to be investigated himself.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

The investigation into the alternate universe Nat proved to be time consuming, but in the end, he himself was actually pretty innocent. Unlike the prime universe Sarah, he didn't go running off after the Firestorm against Admiral Quinn's orders, and better yet, only lost his U.S.S. Molly due to a lack of communication and an evidently trigger-happy captain, so he let him go, making him the captain of the U.S.S. Solaria, handing him the crew of the U.S.S. Molly, Noskene aside (Defiants have no provisions for Tholians), and making Sarah his first officer. Not that Nakari was going to let them free on some patrol mission just yet; he assigned them to escort the U.S.S. Brock as it brought Scott to Earth to stand trial, and then take him to Facility 4028 to serve his sentence there. Assuming he was convicted, of course, but Nakari figured that he would be.

Emperor Nat had other ideas. He had gotten word of Scott's capture, and went after them with the Ranger-class U.S.S. Firestorm, not that the ship would be powerful enough to take on the Brock and the Solaria, of course. Although this Firestorm was extremely powerful for it's time, that left it somewhat standard level here in the 25th century. Luckily, he had ways of getting the upper hand. He figured that the Romulans would probably miss that cloaking device he stole from one of their T'Liss-class warbirds, but by the time they got to him, he'd be long gone.

They moved in, decloaked out of nowhere, and immediately proceeded to attack the Brock with a tachyon beam, weakening their shields. They followed up with continuous mega-phaser beams to make a hole in their shields just big enough to beam Scott through, and beamed him onto the Firestorm. The Firestorm blasted the Brock with a salvo of photon torpedoes through the hole in the Brock's shields, crippling the ship's engines, then jumped to warp before the Solaria could catch them.

Captain Nat jumped out of his seat on the Solaria bridge, looking at Sarah, who was seated at the conn.

"Quick, go to warp! We have to catch that ship!"

The Solaria went to warp, chasing after them. Little did they know that Emperor Nat was headed for Caldos III, where he believed an abandoned Iconian Facility had been located, where he could access an Iconian transmitter to contact The Alliance and return to the Andromeda Galaxy. The emperor, of course, did not know that there was somebody else there, waiting for... someone...

It was only a matter of time until the Firestorm and Solaria, with their superior speed and clear intent to fly as fast as possible, unintentionally caught up with the transport Elysium.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

The Infamous Ship Rahab had replaced the Zipporah as The Infamous' flagship. All of Lydia M'Konel's crew – the ones who survived – had been let go, by order of The Infamous himself. Colonel Ro Laren was in charge of the Rahab until a permanent replacement could be found.

Nel Kestral punched Toreth's already-bruised face as the Romulan spy sat bound on a chair. Toreth spat some green blood at Kestral's boots. The interrogator, who was now dressed in black leather like most of the other female crew members of the Rahab, narrowed her eyes ominously at the Romulan officer.

“Why do you resist, traitor?” Nel Kestral asked Toreth. “You know that The Infamous can find your family, and yet he chooses NOT to sink to your level, Tal'Shiar scum!”

Again, she punched Toreth. Toreth's mouth hung open as blood drained from it, and she smiled up at Kestral.

Toreth said, “You act as though you and The Infamous are torturing me for my crimes! Is this justice? No! You may be angry, but The Infamous has captured me solely to control the Tal'Shiar! Do you not see, Nel? He is using us all to take over the galaxy!”

“Better him,” she whispered, “than you.”

“I do not intend to rule the galaxy, Kestral! I simply want a safe and secure Romulan Empire!”

“There,” Kestral screamed, decking Toreth again, and continued to sock the Romulan after each word, “is – no – more – Romulan – EMPIRE!”

Toreth was nearly unconscious. Kestral removed her leather glove and threw it on the floor. Then she shook her hurting hand. She then kicked Toreth's chair, bringing the woman back into the realm of the wakened.

“Maybe you're right,” Kestral said, sitting in on Toreth's lap. “But you destroyed the Fleet of the Cursed, the ONLY group of people outside of the Marquis who are fighting to keep the Dominion or Cardassians or Klingons from overrunning the damn galaxy! Till now...”

Barely able to breathe or speak, Toreth struggled to raise her head and peer defiantly into Kestral's eyes. “The Infamous',” she rasped and blubbered through tears, blood, and saliva, “will...kill...everything...”

Kestral reached up and clutched Toreth's jugular, causing her to nearly pass out instantaneously. “That's where you're wrong. We haven't been interrogating you for almost a week just because we like to see you suffer, though that may be part of it...we're heading to Caldos Colony for my friends' memorial service. You're going to make an appearance, and you're going to make a public apology and confession of guilt.”

Korinas, a former Observer for the Cardassian Obsidian Order, entered the room. “That will be all Kestral. Allow me, one spy to another.”

Toreth looked up at Korinas with dread.

Aazrus and Donatra – A New Romulan Colony

“I am pleased to find you well, Aazrus,” Ambassador Donatra said with a genuine smile as she placed her hand on the former former Q's back. “Was giving up your powers for a second time any easier than the first?”

Aazrus shook his head and scratched his dark, unkempt beard. “No. It was harder actually.”

Aazrus had been staying on the Romulan planet drinking himself into a permanent stupor for the last week. Many who had gotten to know him (wishing they hadn't) would even come to believe he was attempting to commit slow suicide by drowning in Romulan Ale.

As the two old friends strolled down a stone walkway between two lines of fruit trees, Donatra looked around at the garden. Despite the beauty of the place, it was a little difficult to enjoy it with two black-clad, masked bodyguards trailing them. Momentarily ignoring them she again turned to Aazrus and said, “Proconsul D'Tan will meet us on the Valdore...”

She'd barely gotten the sentence out before nearly a dozen Klingons, Gorn, and Orion assassins and mercenaries beamed down from a cloaked ship; one of the Klingons plunged his dk'Tahg at Donatra, but Aazrus stepped between them, taking the full blade into his sternum. He gasped in pain and collapsed in Donatra's arms.

The two bodyguards made quick work of the eleven would-be assassins; not even disruptors worked on the guards, and nobody in the galaxy could match these men at hand-to-hand combat, not even with blades.

“Aazrus!” Donatra kept repeating as he bled to death in her arms.

While one of the guards picked up a Klingon disruptor rifle and kept watch, the other placed his hand on Donatra's shoulder. “Ambassador, we must depart immediately,” he said with a deep, unnaturally low-pitched tone.

Donatra knew that now that The Infamous' main dreadnought was gone, the Klingon Empire was going to attempt to take out the remainder of his high-ranking people, territories, and fleets.

Elihu M'Konel – S.S. Elysium, transport section

On all of the monitors on the transport, a Federation reporter's face appeared and spoke: “A momentous occasion as just...occurred. According to Starfleet Intelligence reports, despite the apparent death of The Infamous and the destruction of his flagship, a new player has joined in the game. The Bajorans have elected Colonel Ro Laren as their leader, and Bajor has been accepted into The Infamous' Empire. Ro's first order of business, after transporting the war criminal Toreth to a black site in the Badlands,will be to subjugate the Cardassians and occupy their home world, colonies, and outposts. When asked which race was next on her list, she said she was not certain, but whoever they are, 'she would not turn her back on them.' Could the Breen be the next civilization to fall to the now-twenty-thousand-ship armada of The Infamous, post-mortem?”

Sixteen Klingon, Orion, and Gorn vessels decloaked around the Elysium and opened fire, but their weapons connected with the shielded, cloaked hulls of a dozen ships, of various species' designs. Presumably, they all belonged to The Infamous and his loyalists. There was even already a Bajoran ship present. The Infamous fleet decloaked as their ablative armor grew around them.

Above the attacking ships decloaked the Rahab. A single black torpedo was launched from the massive dreadnought. The single black torpedo instantly split into sixteen slightly smaller torpedoes, and found their targets. The Klingon/Orion/Gorn task force was sucked into a bunch of mini-black holes, which were left in their wake as they continued unabated at warp toward the Caldos colony.

As far as the sensors were concerned, something appeared and then disappeared a second later, but they could not detect what it was exactly. The Rahab and the fleet of protecting vessels cloaked again, and nobody on the Elysium ever found out what had happened...except for Elihu, who could sense something, but was not sure what.

Little did they know, more Klingons, Gorn, and Orion would be waiting for them at Caldos III.

D'ren 2 – T.I.S. Ra'Quella, the bridge

“D'ren,” said Ra'Quella. “Long-range sensors indicate our ships have opened fire in the vicinity of the Elysium.”

D'ren swiveled around in his chair to face Ra'Quella on the view screen. “So my upgrades to their weapons worked.”

“I'll be fine,” said D'ren. “I still have a couple hours until I...” His voice trailed off as he thought of his illness. “Besides, all we gotta do is protect them until Caldos. Thankfully we removed any and all non-Federation secret bases yesterday from the planet. I think the Tholians should be the next race we destroy. They're absolutely useless. More useless than the Breen.”

Ra'Quella's digital voice sighed. “If you say so. But I don't understand why we need these...people. I thought they were our enemies, the reason we came back...to prevent your downfall.”

“My downfall is inevitable. It's all a matter of when and how...and who ends up taking my place.”

Krystal moved up to check on Elihu. The news was going through her head, along with what D'ren had said. She wasn't comfortable with the idea... but it was starting to look like she had to in order to maintain the integrety of the Quadrant.

"Admiral, we're closing in on Caldos III, but we aren't detecting the hidden transponder you told us would be there."

The emperor Nat got up, and looked at Jim. "Activate the cloaking device then. Someone may have discovered the place."

The Ranger-class Firestorm cloaked, disappearing from sensors, just as they dropped out of warp in orbit of Caldos III.

As they suspected, the base wasn't there. Maybe the admiral wasn't remembering the base's location correctly. Maybe the base had been discovered. They would never know, until they picked up a hidden Iconian transponder coming from Caldos IV.

They headed there instead, still cloaked. The Solaria dropped out of warp in orbit of Caldos III, and began scanning for the long lost TOS era ship, and yet found nothing. They starting scanning, trying to find what they were looking for. They detected the Ra'Quella, and not knowing it's inhabitants, assumed it must have been some local mercenary ship or something of the like. With no better options, they hailed them, hoping to find information.

"This is Captain Nat of the U.S.S. Solaria. We are searching for a Starfleet renegade on board a 23rd century Ranger-class battle-cruiser. Have you seen them in the area by any chance?​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

D'ren's scarred and smirking visage appeared on the view screen of the other ship. "Nat. Sod off. There is nothing here for you anymore. Our sensors picked up a Ranger-class ship before it cloaked, but I dont care about it so I'm not going to help you, because I dont care about you. Unless Sarah is with you." His smile expanded maniacally. "Anyway, please leave before the delegation from ESD arrives to mourn their dead."

That was when the R.R.W. Valdore decloaked between the Ra'Quella and Caldos III, ensuring she was not within weapons range of the Firestorm.

Elihu - Elysium

As Jade sat down beside him, Eli kept his head and eyes forward. He appeared to be pretty ensconced in his Vulcan thought, completely blocking out not only his emotions, but the emotions of others.

However, Eli did say, "I have made peace with Admiral Nat, and all of his people. At least...I have forgiven them in my mind, as well as my heart. If I ever encounter them again, I will tell them this, should it be appropriate." He cocked his head to the side, still staring ahead. "If we should find ourselves in the midst of combat with Nat's forces, I may have to dispense with that line of reasoning."

Was that supposed to be funny? It was hard to tell.

Lareth leaned forward, behind and to the right of Eli. "Sir, I do believe you are doing well in your Vulcan training; for someone so...inexperienced."

She turned to 1 of 6 at the main tactical station. "Quick, activate the phase cloak! Set a course away from that ship!"

1 of 6 turned to Sarah, confused. "Captain, er, commander, the device is still experimental and--"

"Just DO IT!"

Captain Nat turned to 1 of 6 and nodded, motioning for Jenn (who had been sitting in the back of the bridge) to take the conn. They cut off the communications with the Ra'Quella, and Sarah walked away, towards the door. Visibly shaken, she turned to Nat. "I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me." She then walked out, presumably headed there.

Nat raised an eyebrow, turning to 3 of 5, who was seated at the other tactical station. "Do we know that guy from somewhere?"

3 of 5 thought for a moment. "The Infamous, perhaps?"

Nat turned to newly promoted Lieutenant Jr. Gyta Karujn, who was seated at the science station. "Are there any other planets in the Firestorm's last known course that could support an Iconian facility?"

"Iconian facility. It's the most realistic reason for them to be headed out here. After all, getting an Iconian transmitter is probably the only way for them to contact The Alliance. Are there any planets along their last known course that might hold such a facility?"

Gyta responded. "Caldos IV."

"Then that's where we'll go" Nat replied as he motioned for Jenn to carry out that course. The Solaria thus headed for Caldos IV.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

D'ren McDonnell was waiting for Sarah, sitting in one of her chairs, when she entered the room. He smirked. "Ya miss me?" Noticing her obvious discomfort, D'ren raised his hands to show he was not threatening. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kidnap you again, just to talk." He crossed his arms and leveled her with a dark gaze. "I not only know where Admiral Nat is, but I also happen to know how to keep him from taking over this galaxy, in case you're interested."

No internal sensors or intruder alerts would be tripped, since D'ren was most likely not even really there, just somehow penetrating her thoughts. No doctor or therapist or engineer could help her. Like Ark and now Jade, whether she wanted to believe it or not, she was property of The Infamous.

She turned away, looking at the door as it closed behind her. "No, don't tell me, you little creep."

She let out a breath of air. "Maybe I would have been better off joining the admiral, eh? Probably could've kept him from going too far. But no, I had to be the good guy and end up being haunted by you, you little--"

She turned, but stopped herself.

"No, you know what? We've got the admiral all under control, actually. Besides, how could you stop him? He's probably got more ships than the entire galaxy combined..."

The thought actually really worried her. What happens when this Nat gets back to The Alliance? Will they launch an invasion?​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

Eli closed his eyes and rested the back of his head on the headrest of his seat. "I assumed he might. He does nothing simply to help people. I trust it is nothing too risky. But I don't want you to do anything that puts you or anyone else in undue danger."

Doctor Shran-Vix, the Andorian, walked over with a medical tricorder. She scanned Elihu's head. He opened one eye and perked a brow at her.

"Any change?" he asked.

Shran-Vix answered, "You've reduced the chemicals by half, but that only gives you another month, maybe month and a half. I don't believe any amount of Vulcan meditation is going to solve this one, Elihu. You know what you have to do." She gave him a pointed look. By now, everyone had discovered that he'd found out about Talitha. "I wanted to tell you. Lydia said --"

"It does not matter," said Elihu. "I forgive her. I forgive you all, for everything. Let's just get through this service and return home in one piece."

Lareth leaned forward again. "Do you expect trouble, Sir?"

Elihu looked over at Jade. "Always."

Shran said, "There is a possibility we won't find Talitha in time, and even if we do, that she'd be able to return to human form."

"I must try." Elihu returned to his position, eyes closed, head back.

Shran and Lareth returned to their seats. Kidna was holding her tongue, obviously. Her jowl contorted as she glared at Jade. Of all of Elihu's current crew, she was probably the most vehemently loyal. Their connection was not as strong as that between him and Talitha, Jonah, or even Jade, but she still felt what he felt, and still considered herself in his debt.

Ten Months Ago...

"These caves could go on for miles," H'Rekthar complained, holding his compression rifle by his side as if it were a brittle toy.

Lieutenant Elihu M'Konel was leading an away team that consisted of the Hirogen hunter, Lrann the Cardassian-Ferengi halfbreed, and Nurse Javan, through a dark underground cave system on some forgotten moon. The Philadelphia had picked up a short-lived distress call from a Jem'Hadar attack ship immediately upon entering the Gamma Quadrant by way of the wormhole.

"Sir," Lrann said, looking back and forth with a palm light, "most likely he was killed when his ship was shot down by that cruiser."

M'Konel slowly nodded as he scanned the area with the light on his compression rifle. "Maybe, but we don't leave people for the mercy of the Jem'Hadar. And if he's a defector, we could use him."

"It could be a trap," suggested Javan.

H'Rekthar nodded. "Exactly."

M'Konel shrugged and said to the Hirogen defector, "If it's a trap, then I guess you'll have something to hunt."

H'Rekthar grinned and shook his head. "The only thing that gives the Jem'Hadar an advantage over the Hirogen is their shroud."

"Could be a Changeling," said Lrann.

As soon as she'd said that, M'Konel turned a corner and stepped into a shadowy tunnel, at the end of which was a Founder flanked by two Jem'Hadar. Their backs were to the entrance of the cave; they had not expected anyone else to be here because they had not detected the cloaked Philadelphia. Using hand signals, the Starfleet lieutenant indicated he would target the shapeshifter while the others targeted the Jem'Hadar and the female Vorta that was on her knees.

"Drop your weapons!" Elihu commanded when he was only a few meters away.

The Jem'Hadar and the Changeling spun around, surprised. The Jem'Hadar awaited their leader's orders.

"This does not concern you," the Changeling told Elihu. "This is an internal matter."

Elihu noticed the Jem'Hadar was running out of Ketracel White. The two soldiers nervously glanced at each other, uncertain and twitchy.

"Why are we negotiating with them?" H'Rekthar asked, setting his rifle to kill.

Elihu repeated, "Drop your weapons!"

Feeling the Founder's resolve, and seeing her tense, ready to morph and give the order to kill the Starfleet officers, Elihu fired first. A golden pulse of energy shot into the Founder's torso and she exploded. H'Rekthar and Lrann killed the two Dominion soldiers.

Elihu walked into the cave and looked down at the kneeling woman cowering in fear. It was Kidna. The Vorta peered up at Elihu M'Konel with gratitude and shock in her eyes.

"I am forever in your debt..."

Elihu sneered at the Vorta with contempt. He did not consider the Vorta anything more than tools, since they were all clones. He tapped his combadge. "M'Konel to Philadelphia. We found the defector. Beam it directly into a holding cell, maximum containment, and place no less than three armed guards in the brig at all times. Energize."

They had arrived at the planet and located the Iconian facility on the planet. The facility had been abandoned, so there was no one else in the base but the alternate universe, Alliance aligned Regent Sarah, who had beamed down to find and activate an Iconian transmitter to contact The Alliance and finally go home.

Long story short, she succeeded, and the Ranger-class Firestorm vanished into an Iconian gateway, returning to the Andromeda Galaxy, never to return. Sarah stood there in the Iconian facility, and realized something.

They left her behind. Emperor Nat, that little traitor, left her behind to fend for herself. She looked around, hoping to find a way off the planet so she could go... somewhere. She didn't know where. She didn't know when. Just that The Alliance left her behind, and that none of the legitimate governments would let her away with her previous alliances.

At that moment, she would look down a long hallway and see her. Regent Sarah couldn't believe who it was.

Emperor Nat - U.S.S. Firestorm - Q Power Chamber

"That was too easy" the former admiral current emperor Nat remarked. "Now for the next phase of my plan."

"Plan?" Jim was curious. What had he planned now.

"Oh, yes..." Nat replied as he got into some kind of isolation chamber, in some room deep inside the ship. Some kind of devices were hanging inside the isolation chamber, and they looked like power transfer systems of some kind. Jim got worried.

Nat starting closing the door behind him as he motioned to a console and told Jim to "press that red button when I give you the signal."

He closed the door, walked in the center of the circle formed by the mysterious devices, and motioned to Jim through the thick, transparent walls of the chamber. Jim did as he was told. The room filled with a bright light, and Jim lost consciousness...

U.S.S. Solaria, somewhere between Caldos III and Caldos IV

The U.S.S. Solaria detected the gateway, and realized it was too late to catch the emperor now. They dropped out of warp and stopped, trying to figure out where to go from there.​​

Winning.

It's what I do. It's what I just did. It's what I'm about to do again. It's being undisputed emperor of an empire that cannot be disproved as the most powerful intergalactic empire in the entire universe; I always win, and everything I've won will definitely be won again... by me. It's my signature move, and thus, it's my signature. Problem, Sonic? Yeah, I mean you, Sonic, because you're being beat up, despite your being super. You can't even hit Shadow back, can you? Nope, he's too strong for you. Of course, I'm not Shadow, I'm the Super Emerald fueled fox that's pulling the strings; trust me, the fight would only be a few frames long if I were in it personally. Oh, and here's something for all you guys thinking you can win Last Post Wins 3.0; trust me, I'll be around a long while after the sun has already consumed the Earth while I sit out with the forum servers on Titan. Yes, I mean Titan... that comparatively little moon orbiting Saturn. It's a nice little place in a version of our solar system where the sun is a lot bigger. I mean, Mars will last longer than your precious Earth, but by then, it'll be one hot planet... and I figure Saturn's moon will be about the right temperate for a super-powered warlord. Oh, and trust me, I packed a lot of rings, and I mean a lot. Trillions, in fact, so I'll never run out of rings to power my super form. Besides, if I start to run out, I can just chaos control more rings into my reach. It's quite easy, really. You should try it. Granted, you'll never have the 7 Super Emeralds that I have in my possession, nor the Master Emerald that I've got hidden away somewhere... absorbed into my body thanks to Sonic logic, but whatever. I win. Again. I'm not kidding, either. Just check Last Post Wins, and if the last post isn't mine, it soon will be. Very, very soon. You can count on it. Seriously. By the way, if you're wondering, there's a really great Super Tails sprite sheet out there... somewhere... by some guy named shadow_91. These sprites are really great. Like, really good. Quality. Just like what I like to see in a sprite sheet. Also, credit to Joe T.E., his Sonic Battle style Super Sonic sprites have a great palette for a Super Sonic being beat up by Super Shadow, who's palette is from a Super Shadow sheet of unknown origin, but it turns out they were "borrowed" from a better sheet made by a certain Domenico. Oh, and the gif is actually a custom made super version of a similar gif, of which there are only 3 or 4 copies to be found by Google, and even then, evidently of an unknown source. Yep, it's one of those things. Stuff people have made, spread around, only for it to vanish and you to be the only person who still has a copy, not even knowing where it came from... like, literally at all. Oh, and anyone notice that Shadow's little chaos snap blast thingies are red and blue now? Yeah, I changed it. Problem, fans of purple? Yeah, I know you got a problem with that one, but you can just deal with it. After all, according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly... alright, alright, I'll spare you the entire Bee Movie script, just Google it if you want. By the way, ever wonder how your characters would've ended up if they evolved in another universe? Yeah, that. Think about it. Ok, so you probably didn't bother reading up to here, but whatever, here's a surprise for you guys over at ESD (RP) who were crazy enough to read this: Emperor Nat of the mcfreakin' Terran Empire is gonna be right all along! The universe is gonna go BOOM! *Thumbs up to the insanity*
Oh, now don't tell me you want in on all this! Well, ok. Look this that Egg Pawn hanging outside your window, pointing his laser rifle at you, waiting for my next order. He's doing his part. He helps conquer the weak-minded. He roboticizes the weak-bodied. Heck, he even helps keep the useless people from causing any trouble, but you know what? Join. Find the closest Nataran Empire roboticization center near you and join the ranks, before the ranks find you. Oh, I know, you figure it must be so satisfying to know I basically rule the world now, and you know what? It is, but do you want to know the true definition of satisfaction? Well, let me tell you a little story. One day, you see a brand new event. They're giving out boxes that give old event stuff. Your dilithium is plentiful. You buy a whole lot of Phoenix packs on your main, and open them all. You get one epic token. Then, you decide, that since you have all the Breen ships and don't give a damn about the others, you exchange it for an ultra rare, and grab yourself a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and for the hell of it, a Voth Bulwark. You open both, leaving the Bulwark in your vast masses of starships as you jump into the bugship and deck it out, deck by deck, into the most awesome Jem'Hadar ship you can. You fly it. You enjoy it. Eventually, you get bored and leave, leaving the old Bulwark never flown... until later. Your main is long complete. Your new alt main, based off some character you pulled out of nothing just to explain away some starship being in service without the command of your dear admiral, is also complete. Mostly. Their reps and doffs are hard at work, getting you stuff. You realize the potential, and head back for your dear admiral, pull the most Voth themed build you can out of thin air, and suit up in your giant ship in the shape of you know what. You head out... and cause all sorts of havoc. Enemies scream out your name as their very life is drained away by your swarms of Aceton Assimilators. They complain to the devs of your OPness when you revive yourself from death every time you die. Do you show any form of mercy? No. After all, this isn't the United Federation of Planets, this is mother frakkin' Starfleet, where you explore strange new worlds and kick butt never kicked before. Oh, and you realize that I just wrote another speech rivaling your own signature. Cool. Oh, wait, that's just the original draft, it is part of my signature now. Oh, and yes, I am aware that I have become a Canadian Regent; one day, sooner than you'd expect, we'll suddenly decide to take over the world and declare an "alliance", and I shall become it's Regent. You know, like the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe of our beloved Star Trek. Oh, who'll we be taking over with? I dunno, maybe [REDACTED], or maybe aliens from outer space. Guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't we? Until then, don't ask too many questions, or else my Breen allies on Titania might pick up on your -- [REDACTED BY BREEN CONFEDERACY FOR REASONS] Also, psst... keep an eye out for flying Tribbles! Also walls. Big, great walls, separating entire continents apart. Walls patrolled by Tribbles. Flying Tribbles. Flying Nukara Tribbles. Don't worry, it's not like they were on Venus with a herd of Tholians or anything, they just like the extreme heat and brutal weather like acid rain and hurricane force winds as the norm. Oh, and definitely keep your eye out on any two-tailed foxes, because if they ain't glowing, they're definitely an imposter. Possibly an Undine, we caught one of those once in my place once. Oh, and if you find a two-tailed fox that doesn't like the cold... most certainly ask him to say sorry. If he refuses, DESTROY HIM WITH A DOOMSDAY MACHINE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING ELSE THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH AGAINST SUCH AN OVERPOWERED IMPOSTER!

Krystal leaned in close so that only Elihu could hear.
"He asked me to be his successor," she whispered. "And after hearing some of the news... I think I might have to take it just to keep things from falling apart."

Seifer sat back in his seat as he studied the PADD before him. Sitting with the group, he could sense a hint of uneasiness in the air, but wasn't sure if that was just his imagination. With much of Elihu's people around, he could question them about the murder, even though they had previously witnessed D'Ren attack several Starfleet officers, escape prison, and Steve Jedden attacking and being possessed, the murder was still of the highest priority.

"You think you're going to figure it out?" asked a security officer who was sitting next to him.

Seifer jumped in his seat in shock. "Whoa! Where did you come from?"

"I was here the whole time. Lieutenant Aramaki. I was the guy who Aeris told to go for a jog around ESD a bunch of times."

The Captain shook his head. "I don't recall. Anyway, it's my duty to pursue this, because who wants to deal with a diminishing Earth Spacedock situation and a dangerous Captain Terry? Seems irrelevant, now that I'm several lightyears away, if you ask me."

"You were right to forget about those things. But, isn't questioning Elihu's people, one by one, going to make a long trip even longer? Your active time is so infrequent, not to mention we're just going to a funeral. We have to get there at some point?"

Seifer waved him off. "What? There's no time for logistics, man! A person's life is on the line here, whom quite possibly cares whether I succeed or not. Maybe. I'm sure my efforts are totally worth it."

He collected himself and then approached Lydia.

"Hi. Captain Seifer from Spacedock. I'm looking into the murder of Alyce Rose Kassidy, a Federation citizen, who was also an Infamous slave. My questions are, where were you during the murder, and can any of Elihu's past crew mind meld?"

Captain Menchez - I.K.S. B'Cnah, Bridge

The Vorcha-class vessel sped through space at warp, cloaked and unnoticed. Captain Menchez had been sitting at his chair for far too long and was growing wearisome of their pursuit.

"Status of the distortion?" he asked his crew.

Kvok replied, "We can still see it. But it appears we've entered Federation space!"

"Ugh. I swore I'd never go back here. Did you know Starfleet officers sleep on cushioned beds? I mean, what is up with that? Am I right?"

Kvok nodded. "And they're always trying to 'help others'. What does that even mean? Like, make sense or something for once."

"Exactly! Well, anyway. It is our duty to put a stop to whatever this thing is. Heghto, how are the calculations coming along?"

The Klingon science officer perked from his console. "I believe a modulated, low-bandwidth tachyon emission may eradicate what we've been able to learn of that distortion."

"Captain!" Kvok interrupted. "It's disappeared from sensors!"

Menchez sat up. "Take us back to the point we lost it. Drop warp in that area."

After some work, the B'Cnah dropped warp at Earth Spacedock. Scanning the base, the crew found that there were barely anyone aboard it.

"What is going on?" Menchez questioned. "Is there no one in command over there?"

Kvok checked his console. "No replies to hails, Captain."

"Heghto, join me and several warriors in Transporter Room 2, where we will beam aboard the Earth mushroom. If that distortion is there, we can attempt the tachyon emission." He looked to the other officer who nodded in compliance. In seconds, they left the Bridge to continue their hunt.